Disability and the Immigrant Health Paradox: Gender and Timing of Migration

Abstract

Although research has documented better health and longer life expectancy among the foreign-born relative to their U.S.-born counterparts, the U.S. Mexican-origin immigrant population is diverse and the healthy immigrant effect likely varies by key structural and demographic factors such as gender, migration history, and duration in the United States. Using a life course framework, we use data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE 1993-2013) which includes Mexican-American individuals aged 65 and older to assess the heterogeneity in the immigrant health advantage by age of migration and gender. We find that age of migration is an important delineating factor for disability among both men and women. The healthy immigrant hypothesis is only observable among mid-and late-life migrant men for ADL disability. While among immigrant women, late-life migrants are more likely to have an IADL disability putting them at a health disadvantage. These findings illustrate that Mexican immigrants are not a homogeneous group and migrant health selectivity depends on both gender and when migrants arrived in the United States. digitalcommons.unl.edu

Gender-Based Pathways to Cognitive Aging in the Mexican-Origin Population in the United States: The Significance of Work and Family

“…A key life course factors that can shape cognitive aging is sociohistorical period since policy can shape the composition of the migrant population and access to services that aid in successful aging (Mueller & Bartlett, 2017). Close to a third of immigrant men who were employed in these occupations entered as children during the Era of the Enganche , when legal immigrants from Mexico entered the United States to work on railroads, mining, and agriculture with the promise of high wages (Garcia, Reyes, & Rote, 2019). Their families entered the United States at a time with less hostility toward immigrants and less threat of deportation, stressors which can undermine educational advancement, cognition, and overall health.…”